Chennai: Despite recession taking a toll on consumer spending, travel bug-bit Indians seem to have decided to make the most of their winter vacation. This holiday season, people are busy charting out travel plans, discussing with friends online for advice and guidance.
Travel and hospitality was trending as high as 33 per cent of all social conversation tracked, indicating a particularly high volume of discussions about flying, driving and vacation with family and friends, said the new IBM Social Sentiment Index that gauged over 2.5 lakh consumer opinions from Twitter, blogs, message boards and other social media.
Revealing the travel preferences of Indian consumers, the IBM survey indicated that London is the most aspired international destination of Indian tourists followed by Thailand while Goa ruled the roost as the favourite holiday place in the domestic circle, along with Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, Golden Temple, Taj Mahal and Kerala.
“Measuring social sentiment has the potential to enable the travel industry to design travel offers and services tailored to what travelers are telling us,” said Dr Lata Iyer, partner, Global Business Services, IBM India & South Asia.
“Big data has the power to offer new insights to the travel industry including airlines, hotels and other travel prov-iders that can translate customer desires into irresistible offers that they will welcome,” she added.
